


Welcome to the Family Way

by miilky



Series: welcome to the family way [2]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Adoption, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Interspecies Adoption, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 10:05:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6234424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miilky/pseuds/miilky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their parents told them that children could never love their parents as much as their parents loved them, and this made Judy heart stutter because they didn't just love her-they were in love with everything about her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Family Way

Nick was afraid she wouldn’t like the house.

He and Judy, two years after their marriage, purchased a comfortable home near the police station-more or less thirty five minutes away on a good day. It was stylish, spacious, much more than he thought it should be for a fox and his bunny wife.

But was it too stylish? Too spacious? Was it too much for a six year old who had spent the majority of her life pent up in a box. 

No, he corrected himself, it wasn’t a box-it was a shack; overcrowded with the degenerates of society, worse than what he was. It made him shiver at her happiness when she had shown them; childish obliviousness to her rotting environment, or as Judy explained,  _“She doesn’t know any better because she has nothing to compare it to.”_

He wanted to think on the car ride home that of course she’d love it. Of course she’d love the nice spaced rooms, decorated walls, the general warmth of the place, but another part of him, far more worried and wishing to accommodate, feared it’d be too much. Up to now she’d known only one world, and had been, quite unceremoniously, ripped away from it.

Which was for the better. He’d never regret adopting her. She was a smart girl. A good girl. He hoped she’d want to be his.

“Look, I’m just saying she should get the smaller room?”

“Smaller room?” Judy spun on him quickly, not angrily but in danger of getting angry; she was skeptical, willing to listen to his argument, “Why would we give her-Nick, she deserves a _nice_ room.”

“Nice doesn’t mean it has to be big.” Crap, he didn’t like doing this. He hated feeling this way, but he knew Judy. She meant well, had the biggest heart of them all, but she could, sometimes, be a little insensitive, “Listen to me, honey, listen-you remember her room?”

“It wasn’t a room,” she hissed, and subconsciously gripped the steering wheel harder than she normally would have, “it was...oh gods, it was terrible, Nick.”

“Yeah, yeah it was, but hear me out, she’s used to small spaces. She didn’t have to say it--we saw it, and maybe she can go for the big room later, but lets start it out easy for her. We don’t want to overwhelm her; be gentle.”

If there was one thing he loved about Judy, and there were a lot of things he loved about her-not counting her figure and dogged sense of justice, was that she listened. Even when she was stiff, skeptical, against the idea, she listened, and it was possible to sway her with good cause and reason. She deliberated quietly on this, nodding her head softly, and she looked at him, fear starting to rise, “I-I don’t want to hurt her, Nick. She’s been through so much.”

“I know, and we’re not. We’re gonna love that kid so much that she’ll burst.”

“Bad description, dear, but okay,” she gasped-laughed.

Yes, Nick was worried, terrified, that she wouldn’t like the house. 

When they arrived she carried her duffel bag with limited amount of possessions in it,  _“I can handle it,”_ and walked behind them quietly, not in between-not ahead in kiddie fashion, with an apprehensive look on her face. And really-really, ouch; ouch because that was something they were trying to work past through.

Judy promised they’d go shopping for more clothes, and she smiled and nodded that’d be fun. Nick personally decorated her bedroom, and bought her toys he thought she might like. He promised they’d go shopping for better things than clothes, and she smiled and nodded that’d be fun.

It was a quick tour. Kitchen, living room, downstairs bathroom, upstairs bathroom, their bedroom, and hers. 

 _“Oh no, oh no, crap, shit,”_ steady yourself, Nick, don’t show you’re afraid, be happy and smile-casual.

Her room wasn’t small, but it was smaller than they had originally planned. Judy didn’t want to decorate too much, and insisted she’d make it hers in her own time. The little girl walked into the room and stared, and he saw she was confused, which again-ouch made him sink. She looked at the desk, the walls, and dropped her duffel bag to walk to the bed.

Her paw smoothed on the quilt, “Is this mine?”

“All of it is yours,” Judy explained, and she patted the quilt, “my mom made this especially for you. To welcome you to the family.”

“And we know it’s different from the room you slept in before, even when you were on temporary stay with us, but if you want to change-,”

She wrapped the quilt in her arms, and buried her face in it, sighing deeply, “No, I love this. Can I keep it?”

They weren’t sure if she meant the quilt or the room, but they assured her that ‘yes, everything in here is yours.’ 

“Okay, can we go shopping now?”

*****

Nick saw what Judy couldn’t, and she heard what he couldn’t. It was a fair trade.

Judy was afraid-oh, she wasn’t sure what she was afraid of. She was afraid of a lot of things. Good home? Good parents? Would she hate it? Would she love them?

Her parents told her that children could never love parents as much as their parents loved them, and this made her heart stutter because she didn’t just love Lynn-she was _in love_ with her. 

She was adorable, sweet, sharp minded, crafty, and much more coming from the daughter of an infamous hitman that was now sentenced to two, consecutive lifetimes in maximum prison. It was difficult to think ZPD had spent over two decades searching for this man, to discover he had willingly turned himself in three years ago under his real name, left behind an innocent little girl, left her with a frightening object of power, and for her to be hunted down by his enemies. 

But to his credit, he claimed this was the plan. His brother was alive at the time, and was meant to leave the city as soon as Lynn was in his care. For some reason, this didn’t happen, and the girl lived with her uncle, who she had thought was her father until his murder.

It was a long story. Complicated, messy, and made Judy’s stomach churn when she thought too long on it. 

So Judy was afraid Lynn would hate her for not protecting her father, and from the records and information, had tried to give her what he could. Had tried to protect her, and loved her in the natural way fathers loved their children.

Sleep didn’t come easily. She turned on her side, and stared out in the darkness. Nick’s arm was wrapped around her torso, his muzzle pushing gently into the back of her neck, and normally, this was enough to knock her out for eight solid hours. But she couldn’t. She heard everything, and the uneasiness in her gut wouldn’t leave her.

Wait? Her ears pricked. What was that? She raised her head. The sounds were soft padded, and any other person without her kind of ears wouldn’t have heard them. They scrambled on the floor, hushed and quiet, a sharp tinge of urgency in their movements, and suddenly, slipping quickly out of Nick’s embrace, she rushes downstairs. 

Instinct tells her Lyn isn’t in her bed. Instinct tells Judy Lyn is out her bed, somewhere in the house, but where and why? She didn’t want to think that she’d be taken, kidnapped like she was a few weeks ago; a terrorizing week in which they searched, desperate of what could be done to her. Her tiny little body strung out in the trees; a shallow grave in the desert. 

 _“The kitchen,”_ flashlight in hand, she looked around the area, and saw the second the refrigerator closed with a definite thud. The last traces of light thinned out, and she heard scuffling, sliding, and she switched on the kitchen light, illuminating with bright light.

“Lynn?”

“Mmmhmm,” her tailed swished behind the counter, and Judy sighed, walking around to meet her.

“Baby, what-what are you doing?” It was plain to see. A gallon of milk was held firmly in her tiny paws, and on the floor was a plastic cup. Her eyes were wide, unsteady, and Judy noticed how her shoulders stiffened when she approached her. 

“I---I never had a glass of milk before bed,” she licked her lips, and put the gallon back on the floor, reaching for the top, “I’m sorry.”

“No, sweetie, why didn’t you ask?” 

Confused, she titled her head, understanding the words but not understanding them, “I didn’t know if you’d let me. They-he, it wasn’t safe to go out to get anything after dark, and if you had to, I didn’t want that. It wouldn’t be safe.”

Okay, she could handle this. She could handle this. Don’t let her see how she got you, and Judy smiled, kneeling down to grasp the gallon of milk and cup. Sensing she wasn’t in trouble, Lynn watched with wary eyes, and chewed her bottom lip. Judy’s movements were swifter than hers, fluid, and soon, the milk was poured easily into the plastic cup.

“I’ll get napkins!” Remembering she had spilled some, she found the paper towels and dapped where she made her mark.

Returning the milk into the refrigerator, she pulled Lynn into her arms and onto a stool at the counter, “Would you like it warmed?” 

“Yeah!” Into the microwave it went for fifteen seconds, and Lynn grasped it happily, dousing it in one go, “Oh, it’s so warm. It makes my tummy warm.”

“Good, that’s very good, and you know,” she swallowed, “that you can ask Nick and I for anything, okay? We’re family.”

Lynn paused and nodded, “I know, thank you.” They went back upstairs, and Judy watched as she entered her room, leaving a crack in her bedroom. Unsatisfied, Judy went to the door, and stepped through it, concerned and needing to know.

Her mother’s quilt was under the bed, and Judy’s heart clenched.

*****

Lynn was new to all this, and she was afraid.

Judy and Nick weren’t the nicest people she’d met, but they were fundamentally good people. At six and a half she had long ago discerned the difference between nice and good, and knew their hearts were in the right place, although they sent conflicting signals.

Which was why she worked hard to please them. She didn’t understand why Nick’s face paled when he found the quilt under the bed, or why Judy seemed to stiffen every time she put extra dinner roles into her pockets. They explained everything was hers; this was their home, _her_ home, and they wanted her to feel as much as she wanted to believe it.

So sure, she was afraid they wouldn’t want her anymore. It was natural. She was afraid their love would wane, which was something she could live with; she was afraid they’d end up dying. A cop’s job wasn’t a safe one; that she couldn’t live with. 

If they had more kids, she’d live with it; bunnies and foxes had more than one baby naturally anyways. She didn’t understand why they’d settle with her.

But they were fundamentally good people, which was rare in the world they lived in, so she didn’t question it is as much as she could've.

Lynn understood that some parts of her past she couldn’t tell them. She couldn’t say she knew how to counterfeit money as well as the best counterfeiters; she couldn’t say she used to sleep in walls. Actual walls where no one could find her on bad days. Strippers and prostitutes, what they did, were common scenes, and she knew what sex was, and what could happen to them in the Underground.

She sensed they already knew this, and was the reason behind her visits to the therapist-who was nice in every way.

No matter how she tried to wrap her mind around it, she didn’t get it.

_“Judy, calm down.”  
“She hates us.”_

Their was scuffling on the other side of the bedroom door. Their voices were united and quiet, but not so quiet that they didn’t echo down the hall. Her booksack strap started to slip off her shoulder, and she caught it quickly, pushing her back onto the wall.

“Nick, she didn’t even tell us about it. Maybe, maybe she didn’t want us there.” She was pacing. There was a gentle rhythm of her feet pattering on the floor, “Parents Day, of course she didn’t tell us. She-she doesn’t, oh, I must’ve done something wrong.”

Now, this was where Nick folded his arms around her. “Come on Carrots, that isn’t true, maybe she is _embarrassed_...there’s a lot of issues going on with that, but y _ou-_ us, we’re not doing anything wrong. We haven’t. We’re still in the adjustment period. Plus, she’s a kid-most kids don’t want their parents coming to lame school events, freaking ‘em out.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not disappointed,” she sniffed into his chest.

“I can’t say I’m not,” he said softly, and Lynn imagined he was caressing her head, which he normally did whenever Judy was upset.

The realization left her numb, and she returned to her bedroom. Adults, parents, were worried in the same way kids, children were. They thought they were unwanted? It was an unspeakable concept to her six year old mind, and she thought back to the day when Mrs. Hendrix spoke of Parents Day.

Not that it had any meaning to her. She didn’t think much about it until a few days before, and even then, it was with the same indifference she always had. Besides, their jobs were more important, and they were tired after work, although they wore excited and happy smiles for her every night they made it home.

She had failed to consider their feelings, and their wants. It sounded selfish when it was out in the open, and she looked around her room, suddenly sad and lost. 

The next morning they walked to school. School walks were semi-quiet, peaceful, uneventful, and despite their wounded hearts, they carried on as if nothing had occurred. Lynn walked ahead, they walked behind, and there was a natural rhythm to their steps. Other kids and their parents walked around them, staring, and she puffed agitatedly, knowing what she needed to do but not knowing how to go about doing it.

Directly? With a bit of finesse and subtlety?

She started to slow her steps, and her paws flexed around her booksack straps. The school was five minutes away. She’d miss her chance if she didn’t move quick. She didn’t realize her steps had slowed to a speed where she was directly in the middle of them, and she raised her heat, confused, then released her paws and slipped them into their waiting ones.

Oh, these were nice. Very warm, very firm, they wrapped instinctively.

“Are you ready for that Social Studies test?” Judy asked, with a touch of awe in her voice.

“Hmm...yeah, I guess, Nick and I spent last week studying,” which was true, he was surprisingly adept at giving good study tips, and on Saturdays they spent an hour reviewing the material.

“Ah, Judy, she’s gonna do fine.” Even if she didn’t do well, she didn’t think they’d be mad, concerned-very, but not mad. 

Her arms wrapped around their waists once they made it the school. It was quick, fast, and she breathed she loved them and she’d see them after they got home. They returned the hugs automatically, breathing the same thing into her neck, except Nick’s hug lasted longer than she expected.

“Nick...”

“Hold on, hold on, just a few moments.”

“Nick...I, I gotta go.”

“Just a few more moments.” He sighed and nuzzled her cheeks as he raised her feet off the ground, “Accept the hug, dear, accept the hug.”

"Nick, we've got ten minutes to make it to work," Judy laughed, and started to pry his arms off her tiny body.

After two and a half minutes of awkward hugging, and awkward hug release, he released her and pressed his lips on her cheek, and they watched with content smiles as she waved them off before going onto the school's grounds.

She thought she saw Judy wipe at her eyes and Nick his nose, but it was hard to tell in the autumn sunlight. 

**Author's Note:**

> Adoption!AUs are the best things in this life, and I saw a Tumblr post with an Up!inspired Zootopia where Nick/Judy can't have kids. In my AU, they can't have children with each other, but it isn't like Judy wanted to get pregnant anyways. 
> 
> They wanted to be parents. It's just that their kid found them first. Yeah, there's a whole story behind it, and I might write it out one day.


End file.
